“Huh? Oh! Yeah, it will be fine. The guy is gone. He's left the area, and he won't be back. At least not tonight. Today. Whatever. It's late afternoon there.”
“Ah. Okay. What about Miri?”
“I should feed her before we go. Then we'll take her with us.” I reluctantly left the dressing room and went into the nursery.
Miri was asleep, but as soon as I picked her up, she opened her eyes and made a murbling sound.
“Hungry?” I asked her as I settled onto my rocking chair.
As I fed her, Sever came into the room fully dressed. He picked up a baby bag and started filling it with things we might need. Then he wheeled the baby carriage away from its parking space along the wall. It was an old-fashioned one with big wheels and a wicker top, complete with a roll-down cover made of white cotton and lace. It was human enough to work in Korea and so stinkin' cute that it would fit in with the fairy tale theme.
The creak of a door came and then Killian called, “Are you guys ready?”
“Almost,” I called back. “Come in.”
My kids came running into the nursery, all of them dressed in human clothes with glamours in place to hide theirfey features and heavy jackets on. Rowan was the least altered, only her eyes hidden, while Shahzadi looked like a stranger, her black skin lightened to a golden tan like her father used for his human form, her wings and little claws gone, and her hair a natural auburn instead of crimson. Even her eyes were different, the golden stars gone from her emerald irises. The transformation made me realize that, at least for the moment, Mirielle was my most human-looking child. And yet, she was the one with all the races in her while Shahzy was the only pure-blooded fairy among them.
I guess that made sense. When magic mingles, the dominant force shows itself. But when you have equal parts of everything, it would manifest in other ways. Like power. I had a feeling that Miri's ancestry would reveal itself magically instead of physically.
“Equal parts,” I murmured as I stared at Miri. Her blood wasn't really equal. Angel would dominate. So, maybe she would get her wings after all.
“Mommy?” Shahzy asked. “I think Miri's finished eating.”
I blinked and saw that indeed, Mirielle had finished and gone back to sleep, her mouth hanging open.
“Oh! Thanks, sweetheart.” I cleaned us off and got everything back in place.
“Are we going to a theme park?” Caelum asked.
“Nothing that big,” I said. “It's just a little place for us to walk around a bit. No rides.”
“Aw,” the kids said in unison.
“Well, if you'd rather wait for a time when we can go to Disneyland, that's fine,” I said as I got up.
“No!” they said.
Sever laughed and took Miri from me to tuck her into the carriage with extra blankets. “I'll take Miri and the carriage if you can get the rest.”
“I'll need to direct you. I didn't think to take a picture of the room.”
“Oh. All right.” Sever got a baby sling, put it on under his coat, and slipped Miri into it.
He could have left Miri in the carriage, but I was glad he didn't risk it.
“Did you leave a note for my father?” I asked Killian.
“I did one better. He was still up, so I let him know.”
Cat whined.
I looked at her. This was a family outing, and she was part of the family. She was big, but since she was a twilight puka, she looked normal enough to pass as a dog, her eyes brown instead of fiery like Unseelie pukas. She'd get some attention, but then our group would be hard to not stare at.
“All right, you can come too, Cat,” I said.
“Yay!” The children shouted.
“Um, can I go too?” Henry asked as he leaned his head around the doorway.
